Mike Dietzel - Football Coach - Central Michigan University Athletics

Mike Dietzel

Title:
Linebackers
Email:
dietz1md@cmich.edu
Phone:
(989) 774-3896

Mike Dietzel is in his fourth year on coach John Bonamego's Central Michigan coaching staff, and his second as the team's linebackers coach.

In 2017, Dietzel oversaw a unit that served as the backbone of a CMU defense that ranked third nationally with 31 forced turnovers and ranked seventh in the country with 19 interceptions.

Middle linebacker Malik Fountain, who returns for his senior year in 2018, led the Chippewas in tackles with 89, while another returnee to the corps, Alex Briones, ranked third on the team with 83 stops and led the Chippewas with three fumble recoveries. Fountain earned Second Team All-Mid-American Conference honors.

The Dietzel-led linebacking corps played a major factor in the Chippewas' ability to hold opponents to 5 yards per offensive play, which ranked second in the MAC.

During Dietzel's first season at CMU in 2015, he coached the safeties and served as the special teams coordinator and the Chippewas ranked among the best Football Bowl Subdivision teams in two critical categories: blocked punts (second with three) and total blocked kicks (seventh with four).

Dietzel coached safety Kavon Frazier as the senior led CMU with 108 tackles in 2015, earning Second Team All-Mid-American Conference honors. Frazier was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft and remains with the Cowboys.

Among the many standouts Dietzel has coached during his time in Mount Pleasant is former kicker Brian Eavey, who made 16 of his 24 field goal attempts and was a Second Team All-MAC performer in 2015.

Dietzel served as an assistant at Buffalo from 2010-14. During his time with the Bulls, he helped lead them to an 8-5 finish and a berth in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in 2013. It marked just the second winning season in Buffalo history.

Buffalo’s defense ranked second in the MAC in 2012 and 2013, and Dietzel’s kickoff coverage unit ranked eighth in the nation in 2013. The Bulls also finished a plus-29 in turnovers that season, ranking 14th nationally.

Before arriving at Buffalo, Dietzel spent seven years (2003-09) as the secondary/linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at Western Kentucky; two years (2001-02) as the defensive coordinator/secondary coach at Kent State; two stints (1992-93 and '95-99) as an assistant at Army, where he served alongside Bonamego; one year (1994) as the defensive coordinator/secondary coach at Johns Hopkins; two years (1988 and '91) as an assistant at Pennsylvania; and one (1987) at Earlham College.

Dietzel also spent a year in the professional ranks as an assistant with the New York/New Jersey Hitmen of the XFL. Dietzel worked as a graduate assistant at Colorado and at Michigan, and also served as the track and field coach at Johns Hopkins.

Dietzel played high school football in Sharon, Pa., and earned his bachelor’s degree from Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio; and his master's from Colorado.

Dietzel and his wife Jennifer have a son, Taylor.